1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to tape dispensers. More particularly, the invention relates to hand-held tape dispensers adapted to dispense adhesive tape. Specifically, the invention relates to a hand-held tape dispenser that includes a pair of tabs and projections that aid in preventing the free end of the tape from curling back onto the roll held in the dispenser.
2. Background Information
There are numerous types of adhesive tapes that have a wide variety of uses. A frequently used type of adhesive tape is packaging tape that is used to secure the flaps of boxes and packages for shipping. This type of tape is typically 2 inches wide and is fairly difficult to pull off a roll by hand and manoeuver into position around a package. Large industrial hand-held tape dispensers have been proposed in the prior art for applying such wide adhesive tape. Many of these devices, however, experience a number of problems in their usage. Most adhesive tapes tend to be flimsy and easily statically charged so that when the tape is cut, the free end tends to curl back onto the roll of tape. One dispenser provided in the art is an industrial-use tape gun that includes a handle with a pivotable flap for keeping the free end of the tape biased onto a rotating roller to prevent the free end of the tape from curling back onto the roll. The flap keeps the free end of the tape locked against the roller when the dispenser is not in use. When the user wishes to apply tape to a second package, the roller is rotated across the second package's surface and the adhesive tape is thereby brought into contact with the second package's surface. While this device functions well, it is cumbersome to use and has a number of moving parts that make it expensive to manufacture and prone to breakage.
A second type of prior art device that clamps the free end of the tape is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,630,765, issued to Samuelson et al. This device relies on the cutting action of the dispenser to stick the free end of the tape to the “land area” 66 of the dispenser. The free end of the tape is then held in position by the top wall 80 of the dispenser. When the user next wishes to apply adhesive tape to a surface, the user pivots the top wall out of contact with the free end and then grasps the free end of the tape with their fingers and applies it to the surface to be taped.
Another type of dispenser, such as the disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,672,238, issued to Samuelson, provides small tabs mounted on the frame of the dispenser to hold the free end of the tape off the roll. These dispensers require that the user position the free end of the tape onto the next package to the taped by way of their fingers. A common problem with these tabs is that they are fragile and tend to break off the frame relatively easily. They are therefore rendered useless fairly frequently.
A second problem experienced in the usage of previously known tape dispensers is that because adhesive tapes tend to be flimsy, if they are not immediately stuck down onto the surface they are being applied to, they tend to partially fold back on themselves. When pressure is applied to smooth out and stick the tape into contact with the surface, they tend to form small pockets of tape stuck to itself instead of to the surface to which the tape is being applied. This results in the surface having a messy appearance and in that less tape is in contact with the surface than may be desirable. This may result in a less secured package.
There therefore still exists the need in the art for a simple, effective adhesive tape dispenser that is adapted to be easily gripped in one hand, that allows the adhesive tape to be easily dispensed therefrom, that keeps the tape in a position where it is ready to be dispensed immediately and that allows the tape to be applied to a surface in a manner that results in the tape having a smooth and neat appearance.